Risk assesments
Discussion
I work for a large company in a workshop environment but the site has different areas other than my workshop,
My company want all the staff to write out risk assesments for there job roles but there is no carrot dangled to do this, we also have a H@S Manager so why is he not doing them ?
My line manager States that we do the job so we should do the assesment and they want us all to do risk assessment training, now as far as I can tell that makes me a competent person then I have no choice but to write them
Tbh I'm not keen 1 little bit and there is no extra pay for it, I'm already a fire marshall for no extra dosh
And I'm illiterate at the best of times so we're do I stand legally It just does not interest me 1 little bit
I'm all for health and safety in a fashion but I don't want to be responsible for writing the Bloody stuff
My company want all the staff to write out risk assesments for there job roles but there is no carrot dangled to do this, we also have a H@S Manager so why is he not doing them ?
My line manager States that we do the job so we should do the assesment and they want us all to do risk assessment training, now as far as I can tell that makes me a competent person then I have no choice but to write them
Tbh I'm not keen 1 little bit and there is no extra pay for it, I'm already a fire marshall for no extra dosh
And I'm illiterate at the best of times so we're do I stand legally It just does not interest me 1 little bit
I'm all for health and safety in a fashion but I don't want to be responsible for writing the Bloody stuff
So are you saying that without the RA training you're an incompetent person?
FWIW, a competent person is someone with the relevant, Training, experience, and qualifications to do the task... A Risk Assessment course makes you neither competent or incompetent....
All it does is train you to recognise, and document certain risks within your work environment.... Much of it is generic common sense...
Housekeeping
Slips trips and falls
Working at height
Use of tools
Exposure to chemicals
Hot work
Fire risk
Confined spaces
PPE
Material handling (lifting)
General well being, breaks, toilet washing facilities etc
Chances are you probably do 99% of your workplace RA's anyway.... All your employer is asking is that you put it down on paper...
Please tell me your not one of those chaps that thinks the H&S a officer is the ONE responsible for H&S on your site
FWIW, a competent person is someone with the relevant, Training, experience, and qualifications to do the task... A Risk Assessment course makes you neither competent or incompetent....
All it does is train you to recognise, and document certain risks within your work environment.... Much of it is generic common sense...
Housekeeping
Slips trips and falls
Working at height
Use of tools
Exposure to chemicals
Hot work
Fire risk
Confined spaces
PPE
Material handling (lifting)
General well being, breaks, toilet washing facilities etc
Chances are you probably do 99% of your workplace RA's anyway.... All your employer is asking is that you put it down on paper...
Please tell me your not one of those chaps that thinks the H&S a officer is the ONE responsible for H&S on your site
Edited by Quinny on Monday 8th December 19:43
Quinny said:
So are you saying that without the RA training you're an incompetent person?
FWIW, a competent person is someone with the relevant, Training, experience, and qualifications to do the task... A Risk Assessment course makes you neither competent or incompetent....
All it does is train you to recognise, and document certain risks within your work environment.... Much of it is generic common sense...
Housekeeping
Slips trips and falls
Working at height
Use of tools
Exposure to chemicals
Hot work
Fire risk
Confined spaces
PPE
Material handling (lifting)
General well being, breaks, toilet washing facilities etc
Chances are you probably do 99% of your workplace RA's anyway.... All your employer is asking is that you put it down on paper...
Please tell me your not one of those chaps that thinks the H&S a officer is the ONE responsible for H&S on your site
H&S is everyone's responsibility I no that but I'm not keen on writing out 300 odd there are loads of them FWIW, a competent person is someone with the relevant, Training, experience, and qualifications to do the task... A Risk Assessment course makes you neither competent or incompetent....
All it does is train you to recognise, and document certain risks within your work environment.... Much of it is generic common sense...
Housekeeping
Slips trips and falls
Working at height
Use of tools
Exposure to chemicals
Hot work
Fire risk
Confined spaces
PPE
Material handling (lifting)
General well being, breaks, toilet washing facilities etc
Chances are you probably do 99% of your workplace RA's anyway.... All your employer is asking is that you put it down on paper...
Please tell me your not one of those chaps that thinks the H&S a officer is the ONE responsible for H&S on your site
Edited by Quinny on Monday 8th December 19:43
Quinny said:
So are you saying that without the RA training you're an incompetent person?
FWIW, a competent person is someone with the relevant, Training, experience, and qualifications to do the task... A Risk Assessment course makes you neither competent or incompetent....
All it does is train you to recognise, and document certain risks within your work environment.... Much of it is generic common sense...
Housekeeping
Slips trips and falls
Working at height
Use of tools
Exposure to chemicals
Hot work
Fire risk
Confined spaces
PPE
Material handling (lifting)
General well being, breaks, toilet washing facilities etc
Chances are you probably do 99% of your workplace RA's anyway.... All your employer is asking is that you put it down on paper...
Please tell me your not one of those chaps that thinks the H&S a officer is the ONE responsible for H&S on your site
this FWIW, a competent person is someone with the relevant, Training, experience, and qualifications to do the task... A Risk Assessment course makes you neither competent or incompetent....
All it does is train you to recognise, and document certain risks within your work environment.... Much of it is generic common sense...
Housekeeping
Slips trips and falls
Working at height
Use of tools
Exposure to chemicals
Hot work
Fire risk
Confined spaces
PPE
Material handling (lifting)
General well being, breaks, toilet washing facilities etc
Chances are you probably do 99% of your workplace RA's anyway.... All your employer is asking is that you put it down on paper...
Please tell me your not one of those chaps that thinks the H&S a officer is the ONE responsible for H&S on your site
Edited by Quinny on Monday 8th December 19:43
also reinforce that OP should read some of the first few sections of HASAWA 1974
the risk assessor training will not teach you how to do risk assessments ! - you should know this from your initial training and education if you have been taught properly what it will teach you is hpw to document the risk assessments properly and may teach you a bit more about the hierarchy of risk control etc
loose cannon said:
Really what it boils down to is we are very unmanned at the moment we should have at least 7 mechanics we currently have 3 I have an apprentice to train and I'm just wandering when im going to have the time to do it all bit of sour grapes really if I'm honest
To be fair Mark, I can see where you're coming from.... It probably just seems like a load of extra work for nothing in return...But might I suggest if you're clever about it, you could use the extra training to your advantage
...Just in your comment above you've identified a potential hazard... You should have 7 guys but 3 are doing the work.... What happens when you need a lift with a heavy component?? I'd take a guess you just get on with it and struggle...But if you had extra (trained) hands available, you'd share the lift.... You're RA for manual handling will identify hazards, and put forward control measures....If management ignore them you have a stick to beat the drum with in the form of the RA....
I'm sure you can think of many other scenarios, where hazards are ignored..... But once they're all documented, it's far more difficult for management to turn a blind eye.....
Obviously a lot of it depends on the attitude to H&S, but if they're serious about it (and many can't afford not to be now days) what with claims and prosecutions and so on, you may actually get some help, new equipment etc...
By the way.... Training a young person, also needs a risk assessment.....you have to consider their lack of experience, knowledge, and the fact that they're more inclined to take risks........ It's quite a responsibility, so make sure you are covered in this area...
Edited by Quinny on Monday 8th December 21:48
Fortunately quinny they take h&s seriously, we don't really want for equipment we have lots of good stuff and an overhead gantry crane, vehicle lifts, pits, ramps, everything has before use registers and everything is calibrated load tested etc
And the whole place gets safety inspection regularly so all good, just need more staff, there is a review currently as we
Can't recruit mainly due to the pay so fingers crossed, I'll just have to man up !
P.s the apprentice his dad is the elf and safety manager
And the whole place gets safety inspection regularly so all good, just need more staff, there is a review currently as we
Can't recruit mainly due to the pay so fingers crossed, I'll just have to man up !
P.s the apprentice his dad is the elf and safety manager
The HSE have a section on the website addressing risk assessment http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/
There is an example for what I assume your industry to be http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/casestudies/pdf/mvr.pdf
This part of the website covers health and safety in your industry http://www.hse.gov.uk/mvr/index.htm
I recommend this publication http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg261.pdf as this covers the hazards and standards that are expected and it's free.
I second the idea of pushing to go on training e.g. NEBOSH (other training is available!) which is will be of help to you for doing this task as well as enhancing your CV and will assist your company.
I would recommend that you rope your H&S officer into looking over the risk assessments, I am a little bemused as to why he is not doing the whole process anyway.
Your company will need to distil and pass on the information garnered from risk assessments, in a format often referred to as method statements or safe systems of work for the more dangerous tasks think of these as a step by step guide how to do the job safely not a repetition of the risk assessment.
There is an example for what I assume your industry to be http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/casestudies/pdf/mvr.pdf
This part of the website covers health and safety in your industry http://www.hse.gov.uk/mvr/index.htm
I recommend this publication http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg261.pdf as this covers the hazards and standards that are expected and it's free.
I second the idea of pushing to go on training e.g. NEBOSH (other training is available!) which is will be of help to you for doing this task as well as enhancing your CV and will assist your company.
I would recommend that you rope your H&S officer into looking over the risk assessments, I am a little bemused as to why he is not doing the whole process anyway.
Your company will need to distil and pass on the information garnered from risk assessments, in a format often referred to as method statements or safe systems of work for the more dangerous tasks think of these as a step by step guide how to do the job safely not a repetition of the risk assessment.
Hi pal,
Risk assessments are part of working life now,
I would recommend the following practice when completing any assessment in the workplace
The h&s manager completes a general risk assessment on an approved company format, this is then given to the person undertakening the task to review together to understand what work is actually being completed and what areas need further risk assessment.
This process will be repeated until all parties are happy with the process, this normally involves the method of work changing to reduce the risk and will normally with a little thought improve the process.
The key is to involve those undertaking the the task with a good level of support from management, not just the h&s manager.
Nebosh is a good industry recognised standard, however it is exam based and very formal in how you are marked, nvq's to a similar level are an alternative and will be work based.
Drop me an email
If there is anything specific you want me to help with
Kind regards
Angelo
Risk assessments are part of working life now,
I would recommend the following practice when completing any assessment in the workplace
The h&s manager completes a general risk assessment on an approved company format, this is then given to the person undertakening the task to review together to understand what work is actually being completed and what areas need further risk assessment.
This process will be repeated until all parties are happy with the process, this normally involves the method of work changing to reduce the risk and will normally with a little thought improve the process.
The key is to involve those undertaking the the task with a good level of support from management, not just the h&s manager.
Nebosh is a good industry recognised standard, however it is exam based and very formal in how you are marked, nvq's to a similar level are an alternative and will be work based.
Drop me an email
If there is anything specific you want me to help with
Kind regards
Angelo
The fact that you have been asked and are involved is a positive sign! Would you rather be handed a risk assessment that dictates some of your working practices, which may then change, be handed to you by somebody who has not spoken to you and possibly has little idea of what you do on a task or day to day basis, or would you rather have some sensible input from the outset?
It's also a good way to get a different perspective on the job and for another to see where you believe the risks and priorities are. If you write something completely different and unexpected then clearly your expectations are poles apart.
It's also a good way to get a different perspective on the job and for another to see where you believe the risks and priorities are. If you write something completely different and unexpected then clearly your expectations are poles apart.
Risk assessments are extremely easy and don't take a lot of time. Your H&S manager/advisor should give you guidance though as to how they should be set out. Ideally it should be a joint venture between the two of you, they have the legal knowledge (acts and regs) but you are the competent person carrying out the job. Use a 5x5 matrix, assess the hazards and risks with no controls, put the control measures in place then assess them again.
Depending on the complexity of the job, shouldn't take you too long.
Depending on the complexity of the job, shouldn't take you too long.
Cheers for all your wisdom people,
It has turned out that they are all being re written across the whole site, fortunately it's not just going to be me
As there are far far to many for 1 person and that's just for my workshop, let alone any task's which cross to other departments of which there is a fare few, there have been risk assesments here for sometime now they just like to keep re writing them every 5 mins,
I'm used to working in car dealerships were time is money, and there is no way your coming off a ramp to do this sort of thing the only time your not on a ramp is when your either sick or on leave or you have left,
Once again thanks for all your offers of help if I get stuck at any point I no were to turn
It has turned out that they are all being re written across the whole site, fortunately it's not just going to be me
As there are far far to many for 1 person and that's just for my workshop, let alone any task's which cross to other departments of which there is a fare few, there have been risk assesments here for sometime now they just like to keep re writing them every 5 mins,
I'm used to working in car dealerships were time is money, and there is no way your coming off a ramp to do this sort of thing the only time your not on a ramp is when your either sick or on leave or you have left,
Once again thanks for all your offers of help if I get stuck at any point I no were to turn
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